Time Flies – April 27, 2015

HELLO! 

This week has gone by so fast. I can't beleive it's Monday again.

This morning Sister Rammell woke me up because I didn't hear the alarm and I was so tired. Words don't even describe how tired I was. I had never been this tired my whole mission! I was so tempted to lay back in bed, but I wanted to be obedient. So, I made my bed and started to clean the bathroom. Only by drinking water was I able to stay awake.

Then Sister Rammell walked in and said, "Um, it's not time to clean."

"Mmm..what?"

"I just looked at the clock on the microwave. It's midnight. I must have thought I heard the alarm and woke you up. I'm sorry!"  

So, after laughing about it in our deranged and tired state we collapsed back on our beds. Then when we actually woke up I was reaching for some napkins to clean something up and I stood up way too fast and hit my head on the corner of the open microwave door. And it hurt so bad. Luckily, no concussion. Just a little blood, but no concussion. :)

I have no idea when the cool story happened, but it is still cool!

I have been setting a portion of my studies aside for the doctrine of the priesthood. Man, I have learned so much! Thank goodness for the Topical Guide. I can't believe that no one thinks that the priesthood is a necessary thing out here. Sheesh! The proof is all there! I have about five pages filled with references and notes in my study journal and most of those scriptures were in the Bible! Gah! Seriously people! By the way, I would LOVE some awesome Daddy knowledge on the subject as well. :).

I can watch videos from home as long as they don't have music that is not approved of in the white handbook. :/

ALRIGHTY! If I hadn't written down things in my planner to write about today I would have forgotten this whole week it went by so fast.

We found more things the Elders left...like a deep fryer. Know any recipes?

Also, we put the weights outside on the little deck thing for two reasons. One, there's no room to use them I tried. It's hard. Two, we have an angry neighbor downstairs who thinks we keep dropping weights up here.

Our floors are immensely creaky! We can't walk without it groaning and making noises. It is impossible. When the Elders were here the neighbor told them to stop dropping their weights and such. He came up again when the new Sisters were moved in and was surprised to see girls there and told them to be more quiet. So, we do jumping jacks outside and keep many of our exercises pretty stationary.

This week he came up AGAIN. So, this is against apartment rules to complain to the person directly. He was supposed to talk to the main office, but he decided to harass us instead. At 6:32 he banged on our door and we made the mistake of opening it. He proceeded to cuss us out and tell us to stop dropping weights and doing whatever we were doing or he would bang on his ceiling so we wouldn't sleep. Sister Rammell was the one in front of me and tried to apologize and say that we weren't doing anything, but he ignored her. He's lucky she was in front and was nice, because I wouldn't have been so soft on him. So, that was fun.

This weather is super bi-polar. One day it is sunny and the next it is raining hail the size of gumballs. It's weird. But, people here are still outside in the rain for us to talk to. It's nice. :)

We get to ride the bus to district meeting! Wooh! It was fun, and we got to talk to the people on there. The best part is that they can't leave. Hahahaha!

At one of the bus stops we met this man who was from Africa, but he looked Indian. He spoke very broken English and had a strong accent. We gave him our card and he called us back later. For some reason he thought we were giving him our number for a...different reason.

Man- "Do you like me?"

Rammelll- "We're missionaries. We talk about Jesus."

Man- "Oh..."

And then he was supposed to give us his address so we could teach him, but he called us later in the week instead. This is part of the conversation:

Man-"It's a Saturday night."

Rammell- "Yes...?"

Man- "There are places open. Do you want to hang out?"

Rammell- "We aren't allowed to leave the apartment after 9."

Man- "Oh....What about the other Sister?"

Rammell- "We only talk about Jesus. And we both have boyfriends."

Man-"Oh...ok...."

He then proceeded to say he wasn't interested in our message. I was actually really glad that my companion had the phone because I would have started laughing. Poor guy. I hope he finds a girl that will make him happy.

We have a new couple investigator. Their names are H and A. A is from Russia and is Orthodox Christian. They have a little girl named Ch. She is so cute! They are extremely attracted to good, strong family values and base their family on Jesus Christ. When we first met them I felt impressed to give them the Family: A Proclamation to the World (glad I had one with me). When we met with H for our first lesson she said the at they both read it together that night and LOVED it. Whoo! She even made us Russian beninis with yogurt and berries for when we would be coming. She was very interested in our message, especially the priesthood authority and is very excited to learn more. She was also very happy to receive a Book of Mormon from us. I am so hopeful for them. Praying so flipping hard!

We saw these puppies that were running around and the owner said they were a fox and husky mix. Fox and husky. How does that happen? They were so cute though!

One of the recent converts, S (oh my gosh, I love that guy he's so cool!) took us out to sushi. It is a tradition of his that he will not let a missionary leave this area until they have had sushi at Ginza's. It was really...good! I liked it. I can't say my stomach was very appreciative of raw food, but it was good. Plus, I have finally mastered the art of chopsticks! So, Dad, we can go out and eat sushi together later because I like it. :) Personally, I like the fried ones with crab meat. Not a fan of the avocado or salmon ones.

There's this drink at in the water section in Walmart. It's called Clear American. It tastes like soda EXACTLY. But, it has the nutritional value of water. Water. That is it has nothing in it. No sugar. Nothing. 68 cents a bottle. Beautiful.

We had a great service opportunity this week. There was this man who was standing in front of a yard that was absolutely COVERED with boxes of stuff. His dad had not payed attention to his bills carefully and had been evicted out of his home and his son was now in charge of moving all of his stuff. And there was a lot. So, we helped him out and it was so much fun. Glad I have so much moving experience, because I could play the packing tetris game with the U-Haul truck. It was a great experience and he was super grateful for us. He said that he had never seen truer Christians. He wasn't interested in us teaching him, but we left a huge impact on him. We went home super happy that day.

I am starting to become more brave and am working on my teaching skills. But, our days are full and sometimes they do feel monotonous, but I love it.

I LOVE YOU ALL! Thanks for the pictures and your letters!

Can't wait to see you!!!

Love, Raye

#1- Conference call with the Zone for Zone prayer. I had to give the spiritual thought.

#2- There are horses everywhere! But, I found a ballroom horse! It's perfect!

#3- This was from Harmony. One of our many bike adventures. :)

Greetings from the Rolling Hills! – April 20, 2015

Hello! Surprise, I am in the Rolling Hills area in Louisville, Kentucky. It covers Lyndon and Middletown and I LOVE IT. This is the promised land. I made a note to myself to instantly fall in love with this are and golly gee whiz I have! And Elder Black is still my Zone Leader, hahaha. Oh, before I forget...

Here's my new address:

8809 Furlong Dr. #7

Louisville, KY

40204

Our apartment used to belong to the Elders so we have a bunch of weird stuff and some heavy weights with a bar. Don't know what to do with that. But, there are boxes of stuff that was left here that we need to send to the mission office. I found a few articles of clothing that I liked in one of them.

MOTHERS DAY IS COMING!

Spring is in the air! There is so much green here. Like, more than Washington to give you a visual. I will send a picture for more visual. The trees are blooming beautiful purple, pink, and white flowers. It rains every few days and it just dumps. Luckily, I'm still in a car area. His name is Vincent. He's a Toyota Corrolla. The sun is gorgeous and we hit 80 degrees the other day. The spring weather has almost no humidity so, it wasn't too awful. But, I forgot to wear sunscreen...now I have a gorgeous farmers tan (I figured out I can tan after I burn) because I wore the one short sleeve shirt that is a tad longer than my other ones. Now, every time I wear the shorter ones it's um...yeah. Also, this is the funny part, as Sisters we aren't allowed to wear boots until October General Conference (which is good because I would be dying). So, my feet are developing this weird tan. Whenever I take my shoes off I can see the lines where the straps were. Haha.

Anyway, I'm forgetting to introduce someone! My new companion is Sister Rammell (rah-mul) and she is the best! I love her so much. We are basically the same person. We like the same things and say some of the same things. It's really weird. She's 21 and is from California. She's got this cute Mexican waiting for her at home. They're going to get married and I'll be invited. :)

Sister Rammell is so sweet. She is not afraid to talk to anyone and is really helping me with this courage stuff I'm trying to have. Even if someone doesn't want to talk to us she still feels that the biggest miracle we do is leaving people feeling the love of Christ. She is very inspiring and adorable. She has made it a point every night to have a companionship hug. We make breakfast for each other when one of us is the shower first and leave sticky notes of niceness everywhere. It's kind of strange how fast we developed a really good unity with each other. Nevertheless, our teaching styles are a bit different and we're working on teaching together in unity.

Okie dokie, here's what's up in the Rolling Hills. It's not a rich place! Well, there are some really nice houses and nice subdivisions, but it's mostly apartments and small houses. I love it! Some of the apartments are ghetto, but not I-might-get-shot ghetto. It's perfect. Also, some of the black people I've met are my favorite. Just saying.

W and A are a young married couple and they have a little girl named De. They are both ex-heroine addicts. A has been clean for a few months and W started getting off two weeks ago. They want to become clean for their family. They were found when W was outside talking to her dad on the phone. Just before the missionaries talked to her, her dad told her that he was giving up on her and leaving it up to God. She instantly wanted to hear from the missionaries. I met her this week and she is so sweet and cute. She is really slow due to the years of heroine damage, but is seeing and feeling the difference the gospel is bringing to her life. We taught Whitney part of the first lesson and she ate it up.  Don't know how much she remembers, but we'll be seeing them again soon. She expressed desires to be baptized and feels like this is what's going to turn her life around. Squee!

D is an 83 year old man who  looks like he's only 50. The secret: He walks...a lot. I met him on Wednesday maybe and we talked about the priesthood. He is so awesome. He read all of the chapter headings in the Book of Mormon to get a feel for what it was about and read the Restoration pamphlet. He said that he has no intention of getting baptized, but he is progressing more than any of our investigators. He just loves learning from us. Cool story time! So, during the lesson there were many points where D and Sister Rammell would hold eye contact for a very long time and then both would smirk and laugh, because they both seemed to know what the other was thinking. Honestly, it was quite awkward for me. Then D said, "I feel like we've met before." And after a moment Sister Rammell replied, "Probably, before this life." D nodded and got this distant look in his eyes. It was so quiet and so Spirit filled. Gah! Normally, I thought that people said that we are out here to find certain people, but I never thought it was so literal.

E is 13 years old and is the only member of his family who wants to have a belief in God. The rest are either atheist of agnostic. He is friends with a members son and became VERY interested in the church. We dropped by on Thursday (the member sent us a text to come over) and taught him the first lesson VERY simply and VERY slowly. He has no religious background so we used a lot of video game analogies. He learned about prayer from Assassins Creed and had a little knowledge on prophets based on Halo. We didn't use the Halo prophets as an example for what real prophets are like. When we talked about the priesthood his eyes just lit up. He was extremely interested in Joseph Smith, especially since they were so close in age during the first vision. E is eager to learn more and has a desire to be baptized. I love that kid so much.

Al is from Nigeria and has scars on his arms from being tied captive as a prisoner of war. He is hard core. He is divorced and his two daughters are still in Africa. His biggest desire is to have them be with him and to be sealed in the temple. Al has investigated many churches, but every time he was about to be baptized it didn't feel right, but when Sister Rammell and her companion invited him to be baptized in the first lesson he was touched by the Spirit and has such a  tremendous desire to be baptized. When I met him, we reviewed the first lesson an dread the introduction of the Book of Mormon. As the lesson went on, Al exclaimed, "This is the word of God!"

Boom. Those moments just make it all worthwhile.

We have a lot of investigators and our days are filled. The ones I mentioned are just a few that I've met and taught so far. We spend our days teaching, searching, serving, and talking with people. It is awesome.

But, there have been so many trials.

There was this less-active named J who had this weird and twisted view of the gospel and was really into the zen, meditation hippie thing. She reminded me of a talk by Elder Holland when he said that some people will create gods that will pat us on the head and tell us to run and pick marigolds. I have figured out what it feels like when the Spirit leaves or tells me that something is not true. I feel like I am going to throw up. J kept preaching her views and much of what she said hurt my feelings. She wouldn't listen to us, but we left her with a warm hug. That is something I learned from Sister Rammell is that we always show Christ-like love.

We contacted this guy named N who was eager to talk to us on his porch. It turned into him trying to bible bash us about prophets, and the bible, and the priesthood. We tried to explain it as best as we could, but he wouldn't listen and wouldn't let the Spirit enter his heart. What I have learned recently is that many of the bible bashers I talk to have memorized the exact same verses of scripture. Everything he said didn't make sense, but he wouldn't move. I recall him saying that we were going to hell. The only thing we could do was invite him to read and pray sincerely if the Book of Mormon was true. Then he invited us to pray. But, Sister Rammell said that the only people in our little circle that had prayed about the Book of Mormon was her and me. At first I thought that was super bold, but she did it out of love and it struck something in his heart, but he still didn't budge and said something about hell I think. For some weird reason I opened my mouth and the testimony tears began to flow. With all that I could muster poured out my testimony to him in hopes that somehow he could see just a sliver of how strongly I knew the gospel was true. Soon after that we left and gave him a Book of Mormon. That was it.

Sister Rammell somehow knows just the right thing to say at the right time to help me through those hard times. Must be the Spirit or something.

The day after, I decided to study the Adjusting to Missionary Life book in the Emotional section and I found a great scripture.

D&C 127:2

 "And as for the perils which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me, as the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God knoweth all these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it." -Joseph Smith

Needless to say, I loved it.

This morning I decided that I needed to study the priesthood, because there were many times when talking with N, that I didn't know scripture references or could explain the priesthood and why we need it simply enough. To be honest, I didn't know the doctrine as well as I should have. It was the best study session I have had! It will take me probably a few more weeks to even scratch the surface of the priesthood. I just loved learning about it more and having my questions answered. Studying with prayer: it works.

Anyway, this was the longest letter of my life.

I love you all and miss you terribly!

Attached is my new planner I made. :) I used that picture quote you sent me, Emilee. Keep sending me some! I feel like you all should send me my planner quotes. They always help give me a boost when I look at it.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Raye :)

Another cool story: 

This is a section of my President's letter.

"This past week I was reminded of the promises given to us regarding the ministering of angels. Mormon, in a letter to his son Moroni, asked this question: "...have miracles ceased? Then he answers the question with, "Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men." I testify that angels are with us. They are helping us. They watch over us and they go with us. Let me share with you a portion of a letter I received from a missionary last week.

"My companion and I approached a door in an unfamiliar area and before we even got to the porch the door opened. A cute chubby boy around 13 stepped out with the biggest grin and ran to me! He gave me the biggest hug! Which mind you, is against mission rules, and he says, 'Hermana, its been forever...I've been waiting for yall!' I didn't understand what he meant because I have never met the kid in my entire life, but just played along. We got into the home and was able to talk to his mom (a less-active member) and invite her to church. Then I heard a call from the kitchen, 'Hermana! I need your help please!' His mom says to me: 'I'm sorry my son has autism...I do not know where or how he knows you're an Hermana!' I told her not to worry because I thought it was cute and so I go to help him, while my companion talked to his mom.

I get to the kitchen and he says 'Hermana...remember me! I'm Al! :,) I've been waiting for you!' I played along more as I helped him open a can of tuna and he goes on to say, 'You're here to bring Jesus to my mama, right? I pray every day and every night that someone can come help mama and I know that He answered my prayer because he sent 3 of ya over here!!' I was confused so I asked 'What do you mean Al? Did someone else come and see yall before my companion and I?' kinda non nonchalantly and he says:
'No Hermana, God answered my prayers...He said that He was going to send you all here to help me, mama, sissy and dad. He told me to go open the door so I did.' My eyes got watery. I couldn't even hold back the tears...he then said "and when I opened the door I saw 3 angels...you, your companion, and the man in the white robe."

This is the Lord's work and we have the great privilege to be the instruments in his hands. He does not leave us alone. He is with us, especially when we keep ourselves worthy of the Holy Ghost's promptings. Keep up the good work and bind the Lord.

Gospel love,
President and Sister Brough"

#1- Really Elders?

#2- My companion: Sister Rammell :)

#3- Our area (Rolling Hills and Beckley)

#4- My study desk has two levels!

#5- Green!

#6- Another Kentucky sunset :)

Goodbye Harmony! - April 13, 2015

So, I'm being transferred! President called on Saturday to tell Sister Bush that she would be training a brand new greenie. So, that means I will be leaving my first area and moving on to who knows where. Won't know until tomorrow. Eek! Elder Black is moving to be the Zone Leader in the Louisville Zone and we were joking about me moving under his leadership...again. Sister Bush thinks I'll go to Clarksville, Indiana. I'm excited and almost a little relieved to be leaving. There comes a point when you want to try new things and see new things. But, I will miss everyone here. The S's, the K's, A P (recent convert), and D are on my top list.  

I loved the talk that was given by Elder Packer when he said,
"Many years ago, after World War II, I was attending college. There I met Donna Smith. About that time I read that two essential ingredients to a successful marriage are a cookie and a kiss. I thought that was a pretty good balance." 

Speaking of the temple, yesterday Kh and V came to temple grounds with us. It was so beautiful and full of sunshine that day. It was perfect. The Spirit there was so profound it was like a huge pressure of peace and love. Kh kept saying how peaceful and how wonderful it felt. We taught them about eternal families and the blessing of temples. Brother L, who came with us, gave them a little statue with three family members interlocked in a ring that he had bought from Africa. It was so perfect and symbolic. 

We then felt impressed to give them a tour of the church building next door. We showed them the different rooms and stopped at the chapel. It was so quit you could have heard a pin drop. There, we talked about the sacrament and testified of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was so strong that nobody for a little while wanted to speak. We then walked to our last destination, the baptismal font. We showed them it and talked about our first covenant and how it is the first step to reaching the temple and feeling the same Spirit all the time if we are worthy. 

Although I may be gone, I am more than certain that Sister Bush and whoever will be serving with her are going to baptize them. We took a picture outside the temple together and someday we'll take another one and they'll be dressed in white.   

Guess what? We're getting iPads! We have a training on May 21st so that is coming up. Also, Mother's Day is in my planner! Yes! 

So, Churchill Downs was AMAZING! I loved it! We spent a few hours there looking at the museum and having so much fun. Pictures to come! We tried on Derby hats and learned all about the horses, jockeys, and the general spirit and traditions of Derby. Thunder Over Louisville is going to kick off the Derby craziness this Saturday. I'm sad we don't get to go, but it's supposed to be awesome. We watched a few of the film clips of the Derby's from certain years. I watched my birth year. 1995's winner was Thunder Gulch. We also watch Secretariat. I had no idea that that horse's heart weighed so much more than the average thoroughbred. Crazy! My favorite horse name though had to be Behave Yourself. 

So, remember in conference when Elder Nielsen talked about the man from Taiwan named Satid who was paralyzed? Yea, Brother Lowe, who's in my branch, baptized him. Crazy! 

We had an awesome Zone Meeting this transfer. We were taught on the three types of missionaries. The bum, The Convenient Softie, and the Fearless Inconvenient Hunter of Men. Needless to say, I want to be number three, but sometimes I am number two. I had some repenting to do. Repenting is my favorite thing because it helps me to change and become better. It's so great! In one part of the training we were asked to pray privately somewhere in the church building to repent and ask Heavenly Father what we could do to become better. I have never in my life felt such peace and gratitude for the enabling power of the Atonement in my life. I even got a little teary eyed because of how I felt. 

Becoming is so awesome! I can't wait to keep doing it. 

Story time! So, after the training we went out to work and we did until late in the evening. We had about five minutes before we were supposed to start traveling the twenty minutes home and we felt impressed to knock on the door of a former. We did and there was no answer. But, I knew we were supposed to be there for a reason and when we turned around we saw this man grilling on is driveway. So, we put on our Inconvenient Fearless Hunter of Men boots and went to talk to him. His name is Di and he was happy to pray with us. We talked to him for about 10 minutes about the Book of Mormon and he gladly accepted one and wanted us to come back and teach him more. 

Talking with everyone is the best thing ever. Heavenly Father is definitely helping me to become braver and better at conversation. Who knew that I could be good at that! 

Elder Langford told us a story this week. One of the investigator's in our mission had this dream. This was at the time when he wasn't sure about being baptized and was kind of on the fence about it. One night, he had a dream where he was in a big field and was happily sitting on a white fence. On one side was God and Jesus Christ waving at him with smiling faces and beckoning him to come to them. It was bright and beautiful. On the other side was Satan and he was surrounded by coldness and darkness. He wasn't moving or speaking, but was just smiling. The man asked, "Satan, why aren't you asking me to come on your side?" Satan replied, "You're siting on my fence." 

Boom. Powerful ain't it? It is impossible to not be on one side. We have to put our whole selves on Heavenly Father's side. There is no middle ground. I'm either trying with all my might and strength or I'm not. I will definitely make mistakes, but that's what the Atonement is for. 

I love you all so much and miss you terribly!! 

Can't wait until May 10th!! I get to see your faces! 

I LOVE YOU!!! 

Raye :)  

P.S. I got you something pretty from the Downs, Mom. Get excited. :) 

 Pictures 

#1 - Sister Briggs (we were on Blitz) me, and A (he's a recent convert whom I adore! He was so so sad to hear I was leaving. Cool kid. Going to be an apostle later in life.) 

#2 - Derby hats that are worth 75 bucks. Nope. 

#3 - The closest I will get to the track without paying to sit there. You can see the winner's circle behind me. It's the little white tower with the green roof. 

#4 - The K's and us at the temple. 

#5 - Do I look like I want to put on a jockey uniform and goggles and get on the plastic horse? Yes.

#6 - Churchill Downs. The horse statue is of Barbaro.